I live my life in Tokyo

The man nodded without comment. It felt like the past when the client cast a wide net, and they, the small parts designers, had to compete with other companies' small parts. It was helpless, but very realistic.

What Party A needs is flawless results. He didn’t feel that when he was in the company in the past. When he failed to compete with other companies, he just sighed a few times and his commission was a little less this month.

The result of an audition is different. It is laid nakedly in front of you. Even if you are unwilling, you have to accept the result.

Because reality is cruel.

"Have you had lunch? If not, would you like to order something? I'll treat you." The boy asked, leaning against the counter.

Sakurajima Mai's eyes lit up, "Ah, I actually heard Sakakibara-senpai ask for a treat. Did the sun rise from the west today?"

The boy rolled his eyes in annoyance. He didn't have much other expenses now, and most of his money was spent on food and drink. He also reduced the number of eating out from once a month to twice a week.

There is a colleague named Yoh Uehara, a native of Tokyo, who ate a lot of delicious food in the alley last week.

The restaurant outside the hotel is full of lights and wine, and diners are shoulder to shoulder, but they often ignore the warm solitary lamp in the alley.

In a fast-paced city like Tokyo, even the best wine will be hard to sell if it is not well-known.

The boy thought that his thoughts were still cynical and literary, so he shook his head slightly, poured out half a bottle of water, wrote Sakurajima Mai's order on a piece of paper, and placed it sideways on the kitchen counter.

Life has indeed been a little slow lately, which is the life the boy longs for, with work, study, and hanging out with friends, which feels very much like the past college days.

"Well... there are a lot of audition opportunities for TV dramas in the spring." Sakurajima Mai took out her cell phone. Her agent had just sent her a schedule, allowing her to freely choose the audition projects and work times.

For an actor of Sakurajima Mai's level, it is not the script that chooses the actor, but the actor that chooses the script.

"What kind of dramas are they?"

"It's a youth campus drama."

"Are there no action dramas or war dramas that interest me?" the boy sighed dejectedly.

“…But, I heard Iida-san complain that Sakakibara-senpai, you wanted to film a harem drama?” The beautiful girl rolled her eyes, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in her indigo eyes. At this moment, she could not hide the sharp flash at her waist. As soon as the sinner opened his mouth to explain, the beautiful girl would chop off his dog head.

Hearing this, Sakakibara Kaede couldn't help but frown. He paced behind the counter for a few steps, holding his chin in thought for a moment. His lowered eyebrows were filled with worry, his sea-blue eyes were filled with hesitation, and his slightly heavy footsteps revealed that he was wronged but dared not speak out. After a while, he raised his head with deep surprise, "Iida-san... you actually said that to me?"

The innocent look of a persecuted boy, as if he was about to kneel down on his knees and cry out that he was innocent, was beyond words.

Yes, how could a pure and innocent boy like him think of filming a harem drama?

"Really?" The girl's eyes were full of doubt.

The boy stared at her for a while, and finally sighed, "I once asked Iida-san for information on this."

He didn't want to lie to his friend.

"People always daydream, dreaming about having money one day to spend freely, or dreaming about becoming handsome one day to confess their love to the girl they like." As the boy spoke, he turned around and brought the salad and pasta ordered by the girl from the kitchen and placed them gently in front of the girl.

"Daydreams are illusions in the mind, usually of joy, hope or ambition." The boy explained patiently, "I once fantasized about being loved by everyone and becoming a member of a popular and popular group in high school, but I failed. Or rather, I simply didn't have the courage and confidence to try that."

"The harem is just a phenomenon, um... Imagine if you, Sakurajima-san, traveled to a different world of swords and magic and had the power to destroy the world, what would you do?"

Mai Sakurajima picked up a piece of purple cabbage with a fork, dipped it in some salad dressing and put it in her mouth. She chewed and thought, "Hmm... If I travel to another world, the first thing I have to do is defeat the demon king."

A common routine: after traveling to another world, the kingdom that summoned the hero is deeply troubled by the devil, and asks the hero to defeat the devil.

This is a tactic that is used over and over again in light novels. After the setting of being unable to transform into a demon king, they think of ways to add cheat codes or difficulties to the protagonist.

"And then... after all, you still find a way to go home."

The sunlight gently shone on her cheek, and her black crystal-like hair glowed with a silver-white halo. Sakurajima Mai held up the coffee cup with both hands, and a strand of hair hung down from her shoulders, playfully resting on her cheek.

"After all, I still quite like my current life."

The boy was silent for a moment, then turned sideways to wipe the coffee cup.

"So...what if you can't go back to the past?"

Mai Sakurajima pointed her finger at her chin, and this question seemed to stump her.

The boy was in no hurry. He wiped the smooth cup gently, and held the cup in front of the sun from time to time to check its transparency.

"If I have to stay in that different world and can't go back... I want to travel to every corner of the world, see every beautiful scenery in the world, and eat every bowl of delicacy in the world, so that my life will not be in vain!" Sakurajima Mai raised three fingers and said with a smile.

The boy was in the shadow behind the bar, looking at the girl in the sunlight, his eyes calm and gentle.

He said, “Yeah, I thought so too.”

Chapter 3: Curse of the Golden Flower

Miyamoto Kendo Training Hall, early spring, sunny day.

The boy was wearing protective gear, his blue eyes narrowed inside the gear, observing his "opponent".

He held the bamboo sword in both hands, feeling the numbness and pain in his arms, and controlled his breathing rhythm.

Once he loses his breath or gasps, his even breathing rhythm will be disrupted, which will make him more tired. Breathing needs to be slow and deep, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, which can improve exercise efficiency over time.

Before instructing the movements, coaches in the gym usually start with a set of healthy breathing methods.

The same is true in the kendo gym.

The fight in Kendo is not like boxing, where you punch me back and forth, nor is it like the sword-fighting competition in martial arts novels, where you can easily win by just swinging a set of Jade Girl Sword Technique.

Normally in kendo, the attack can be as swift as thunder and rain, or as lingering as spring breeze and night rain. After several rounds of fighting, one party successfully swings the bamboo sword to hit the vital parts of the other party. The referee can only know whether the attack is effective after observing the momentum, strength and position of the blow.

"!"

The boy swung his bamboo sword and chopped it hard on the doll's face.

After the crisp knocking sound, the boy did not stop his action. He retracted his arm and paused for a moment, then chopped down again.

"what!"

The boy, like most trainees in the kendo gym, used force from his abdomen when swinging his sword, expelling the air from his mouth and letting out a clear shout.

"Snapped!"

A deep scar was left on the puppet's face. The crisp sound of the impact made the kendo master who was in charge of teaching the freshmen nearby glance sideways and nod.

Sweat gradually flowed down his cheeks, and the stuffiness inside the protective gear made the boy's breathing a little rapid.

Outside the window, the early spring cherry blossoms drifted down and landed on the corridor of the kendo hall. Before they could rest for long, they were picked up again by the surging sword energy in the kendo hall and blew along the wooden floor into the pond.

The boy slashed with his sword, measured the movement, savored the feel, and memorized it.

As long as he memorized the feeling of his muscles, he could perfectly reproduce every chomp - although this meant that he would not be able to break through himself in the future and perform a cultivation exercise that only existed in novels to break free from his own shackles, but currently all he had mastered was the same swing as his coach.

Simply keeping fit or swinging a prop knife in a TV show or movie is enough.

"call!"

The boy exhaled a breath of foul air through his mouth, placed the wooden sword horizontally in front of him, and sat cross-legged on the ground, meditating like an old monk.

After his pounding heart slowly calmed down, Sakakibara Kaede stood up, unscrewed the cap of the mineral water bottle and took a sip. He didn't drink much, but waited for the moist feeling to slowly slide down his throat.

Long-awaited sweet dew.

The cell phone rang at this moment. The boy quickly glanced at the other kendo practitioners who were leaving with their bags, and answered the call.

"Brother Sakakibara, don't forget the audition this afternoon." Iida Kei's first words were filled with worry, as if he was afraid that the boy would fall asleep at home and forget about the audition.

"Iida-san, who do you think I am?" The boy stood up and slowly twisted his waist. "I learned this from you through various sources. This is a TV series from the Edo period. If I can even get one of the extras, I'll be lucky."

"Good! I am very pleased that you have such a heart."

Kei Iida originally thought that after the boy experienced his first role as the lead in a TV series produced by his family, he would no longer look down on any other positions besides the lead role - such as extras.

Now it seems that he might have underestimated Lu Bu and Lu Fengxian back then?

Maybe that's true.

Dong Zhuo was disgraced and burned to death because of his suspicion of his subordinates, which led to a series of schemes by Prime Minister Wang Yun.

If he had trusted his adviser Li Ru at that time, perhaps all the results would have been different.

Dong Zhuo, the warlord who originally controlled the Liangzhou Army, became pedantic after entering the court. His spirit was gradually worn down by his party members who pretended to be submissive. By then, that would be the end of his death.

He was not a member of the party, or rather, even if he wanted to be a member of the party, those ministers would not be willing to accept a crude warlord from Liangzhou.

The biggest beneficiary was Yuan Shao of the Yuan family.

Iida Kei sounded the alarm himself, not wanting Wang Yun to show up halfway and use a series of tricks to fascinate his subordinate Lu Bu. His tone suddenly softened a lot, "I heard your background sound a little noisy, where are you?"

"Keep fit." Sakakibara got up from the ground, clamped the phone to his shoulder and ear, and stuffed the bamboo sword into a cloth bag. "After filming those few scenes of our daily high school students running, I found that my physical strength was too poor. So, I came out to exercise, so that filming action dramas in the future won't be a problem."

"So you really have poor physical strength, and you're not just acting?" Iida Kei was a little surprised.

The boy frowned. "Of course I'm just acting. I go out for exercise and run every morning without fail. I'm even on par with the best martial arts teacher in school. You don't know how hard it is to pretend that I can't run."

"...Okay, I understand. I will find resources for you. To be honest, there are no new TV series or movies in the recent schedule. The market is flat, which makes an agent like me who is full of ambition feel drowsy."

"Come on, aren't there historical dramas from the Edo period?" Sakakibara Kaede asked in confusion, "This is a Taiga drama, Iida-san, do you... understand the value of Taiga dramas in TV dramas?"

Iida Kei snorted, "What does this have to do with you as an extra? The auditions I'm looking for you now mostly require leading roles. If you didn't want to try other types of dramas, I would never arrange a role for you as an extra in this historical drama."

"OK."

After saying this, the boy put his phone aside, took his towel from the locker room, walked into the bathroom in two steps, and washed his sweaty body.

The hot water flowed down his slightly pale skin. The effect of the boy's exercise since October last year finally showed on his body - his body looked stronger, with more meat than before, and he was no longer the skinny type that would be blown away by the wind.

"When I become a sword god at Shilipo and the whole city is covered with golden armor, I will return to Chiba Sobu High School." The boy rested his hands on the wall and let the water from the showerhead run down his hair. "When I become the eighth level of Douzhiqi swordsmanship, I will return to Sobu High School to fulfill the three-year agreement."

The boy successfully amused himself with his immature soliloquy. He dried himself, changed into casual clothes, and left the modern kendo hall with his bamboo sword on his back.

After returning home and putting his bamboo sword and spare clothes in the room, the boy went out again with a mobile phone navigation in his hand.

He needs to change two subways and take a bus to reach the filming location of the Taiga drama, which is similar to a film and television base, with streets, houses, and interiors of different styles that imitate those built in different eras.

The film and television base is usually open to the public and all citizens can come to visit. Some people will also wear period costumes and walk in the antique streets and alleys to experience a different atmosphere.

After checking the time on his watch, the boy walked onto the platform. Having just finished exercising, he felt refreshed and his eyes were sharper.

Even on weekends, there are still endless streams of people on the subway. Perhaps this is the charm of the metropolis. People walk in a hurry, trampling all their chaotic thoughts under their feet and burying them in the ground.

While riding in the car, the boy took a look at Twitter.

6 million fans.

He only had 20,000 followers some time ago, but the number has increased rapidly recently. Ever since that running scene, his Twitter feed seems to have become a holy place for check-ins and retweets - the actors under the agency must retweet the TV drama advertisements shot by the agency on Twitter every week, and the boy naturally did the same.

It really makes people feel good to see the encouragement in the comments.

The boy thought to himself that it was like the author seeing all the positive reviews on his book. It was an affirmative and warm emotion that made the author realize that he was not alone in this cold world, writing with passion, he was not alone, he had a group of like-minded readers accompanying him.

I glanced at the time of the last repost, and it was a new advertisement shot by Sakurajima Mai. It has been a month since there was any update. I was surprised that Iida-san didn't urge me.

The photo with the most likes was taken after the last scene was filmed, where the six leading actors stood in the most conspicuous front, holding bouquets of flowers in their hands, and made victory signs to the camera together with the actors standing behind them.

The boy looked at the faint smile on his face in the photo. It was a smile from the heart.

It seems that when he was an actor, the mask similar to Nishida Orange could not be retained, and his true self was revealed.

Being an extra in a Taiga drama is a rare experience for the boy - Kei Iida also said so. The boy has been longing to play roles other than youth dramas, not only to experience the customs and practices of different crews, but also to experience the shadows of little people in different eras.

Just like the passerby he is going to play today, he is an insignificant little person.

But what will happen when he puts on a straw raincoat from the Edo period and wears straw sandals on his feet, goes back to that era, and becomes another person?

This feeling is no less than reading a light novel about traveling to another world. While one is still on the way to the other world, the world view and harem have already been imagined.

It is understandable that the film and television base is outside Tokyo. In Tokyo, where every inch of land is valuable, it would be extremely expensive to build a large-scale film and television base that would include streets, buildings, and decorations from past eras.

Following the sign, the boy soon saw a long queue.

Men, women, old and young.

He heard that the theme of this shoot was that the protagonist and the villain would be fighting in the streets, during which fruits would be crushed, wooden doors would be broken, and several civilians might even die.

The boy walked quickly into the line. He had heard that extras could get extra money for playing corpses.

I hope my face is memorable enough to make the director think that the death of a handsome stranger is a good plot.

"Sakakibara-senpai!"

Kaede Sakakibara saw Nakano Ichika, a new actress whom he hadn’t seen since the graduation commercial shooting, among the crowd of extras. Next to her... was Higuchi Madoka, who looked a little unhappy after seeing him.

"What a coincidence, you are here too." The boy walked up to the two girls and greeted them.

Nakano Ichika said very honestly: "I haven't passed any auditions since the graduation commercial. The leading role is still too difficult for me. So I want to start with extras and learn from scratch. My agent also said so."

Kaede Sakakibara praised: "It's a mature idea to start learning acting from an extra, Nakano-senpai."